


Reading Glasses

by thedepressedwriter



Series: Tales from Hogwarts and the Marauders (all from my instagram @marauderswriting) [8]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Muggle, Bisexual Male Character, Bisexual Remus Lupin, Bookshop, First Meetings, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gay Male Character, Gay Sirius Black, M/M, Nervousness, coffeeshop, wolfstar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 11:14:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30037830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedepressedwriter/pseuds/thedepressedwriter
Summary: Muggle AURemus meets a mesmerising stranger in his little bookshop...taken from my Instagram @marauderswriting
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Series: Tales from Hogwarts and the Marauders (all from my instagram @marauderswriting) [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2159046
Kudos: 10





	Reading Glasses

This winter day was particularly cold and windy, not a single ray of sunlight insight as the snowflakes swirled down from the grey clouds, covering the whole city in a soft, white coat. In Remus’ opinion, these were the worst winter days, which usually made their appearance during February, adding to his already present dislike of the month due to Valentine’s day, a holiday he abhorred. Therefore, he had spent most of his day in the small book café he owned with his best friend Lily, right under their flat. They had met right during their last year of school when he and his family had moved to Cokeworth. They both then went on to study in London, where they met Peter, Mary, Marlene, and Dorcas. Marlene had inherited the small bookstore from her grandmother, but as she was not very interested in books or literature, she had left the practically dying business in Lily’s and Remus’ hands, who, with help from their mates, had slowly begun to restore it to its previous beauty. The concept of it was fairly new and thus worked quite well. Adding on to the enormous collection of books by buying others and gifting some of their own, they had first turned the bookstore into a library, where they occasionally sold some of the books. Then, Peter, who had just finished his culinary studies, offered to turn the place into a café and became the chief baker. Remus and Lily meanwhile, continued to add to the book collection, making it their mission to find exclusive editions, annotated novels and journals, and ancient leather-bound books, something their customers were instantly charmed by. She was still studying, working towards becoming a teacher, meanwhile, he, continued working towards pursuing a career as a historian. 

They had kept the place pretty simple: cream walls lined with mahogany shelves filled to the brim with books of all colors and sizes, organized by genre and author, and small wooden tables with matching chairs, all hand-painted by Dorcas, were the only furniture. Decoration wise, there was nothing extravagant salve for a few vases with white dried baby-breath flowers dotted here and there, and various photographs depicting Irish nature sceneries taken by Mary. In the furthermost corner of the room, stood the glorious vitrine behind which hid cinnamon rolls, blueberry and chocolate muffins, lime and treacle tarts, apple and banoffee pies, and a few other assortments of biscuits, scones, and pastries. 

It was now the holidays, and while Lily was out with her boyfriend James, Remus mostly stayed in the café, studying and writing his historical novel, surveying the little business from his tiny table next to the window. He sat there for hours, pouring over old books and leather notebooks whose pages were darkened by his small, regular, rounded writing, a cup of scalding hot earl grey never leaving his hands. Aside from an elderly couple, a few students, and a couple of other customers the place was fairly empty and quiet. The only chatter came from Shayla, the young student who worked in the café over the holidays, and who stood behind the counter, talking to Peter who had finally come out of the kitchen, or his “culinary experimentation science lab” as Lily liked to call it, for a few minutes. 

Suddenly, the door opened with a loud bang, and a sharp, freezing gust of wind wrecked its way into the otherwise warm, fire-lit café. A young man, dressed in a long, black wool coat and expensive-looking leather boots entered the room. Remus looked at him disapprovingly as he shook his silky raven locks, tiny snowflakes flying everywhere and melting on the carpet. He looked like one of those posh students from the Regent’s University, or the Royal Academy of Music, who sometimes passed by the café, “gracing” it with their judging looks and superior attitudes, an unmistakable sneer traced on their pristine faces, the mark of privilege and spoiled upbringing. Yet this guy, while carrying himself with the elegance of a stuck-up aristocrat, did not possess the slightest bit of that disgusting lofty look. He looked rather…fun, for lack of a better word. As if the stranger had noticed that he was being watched, he looked up, locking eyes with Remus’ studious, slightly derisive stare. Strangely flustered, the tawny-haired man quickly turned his attention back to his book, burying his nose deep in it, cheeks flushed red. Goddamn, the young man was gorgeous. Unable to concentrate any longer, he followed him with his gaze through the whole room, as he ordered, picked out a book, sat down at a table opposite from his facing him, and had his tea and chocolate muffin brought. He probably knew that he was still being observed, but paid it no mind. Growling frustratedly, Remus tried to desperately focus on his notebook and continue writing, but the words were all blurry on the page in front of him and did not make any sense whatsoever. Pretending to read about the history of theatre, he peeked at the handsome stranger. He just couldn’t help himself, he was _so beautiful_ , and inexplicably, he constantly found himself very attracted to mysterious, dark, brooding strangers, or at least that was what Lily always told him. The guy had now taken off his coat, revealing a black turtleneck and a silvery chain necklace, as well as two tiny thin hoops hanging on each ear. It was just so mesmerizing to watch him read, see as his eyes lit up when reading, what Remus assumed was, a particularly interesting or funny passage, or how he furrowed his brows in concentration, or how he cocked his head thoughtfully every once in a while and intrigued smile playing on his lips. 

All of a sudden, intense silver eyes met his warm, brown speckled green ones, and he felt a deep red blush crawl up his neck and reach his face. The young man raised a jet black, perfectly shaped eyebrow, smirking confidently. Remus shrugged, biting his lower lip nervously, not missing how the stranger’s gaze flicked to his lips for the briefest of moments. His smirk wavered for a second, as he seemingly sucked in a sharp breath before looking back down to his book.

The next hour or so was a mess of longing, curious, stolen glances, and the occasional blush when they met eyes. Neither of them appeared to have any control left over their actions, as they kept on looking at each other from behind the pages of their books. 

A few minutes, the dark-haired man stood up, throwing his coat on, and Remus couldn’t help the small tug he felt in his chest. But even more alarmingly, the stranger walked over to him. He was quite short but still towered over him from his standing position.

“Hey mate, I notice you’ve been looking at me an awful lot, is something the matter?”

“N-no,” Remus stuttered.

“Oh my god! Do I have something on my face? Is that it?” He continued, looking panicked for a second.

“No,” repeated the green-eyed man. 

“Thank god! Well, I have to go now, thanks for the read, by the way, it was very enjoyable,” he replied, that devilish smirk appearing on his face again as handed him a red hardcover book and left the café.

Looking down with horror, Remus saw that it was a copy of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”. The very same copy he had annotated a year ago, and left on one of the shelves, forgetting about it. If he recalled correctly, he had spilled all his thoughts and feelings into it, dreamingly writing about romance and love after a particularly tough breakup, assuming no one would ever see it as it was hidden between rows and rows of other books. And now, this handsome stranger had read it all. He swore loudly. 

***

The next day, Remus was sitting at his usual table, when the same guy came into the shop again and headed straight towards him. 

“Hey mate, I forgot to introduce myself yesterday and decided to come by again as that was very rude of me. I’m Sirius,” he said plopping down on the chair in front of him. 

“Oh, um, hello. I’m Remus,” he replied. 

A slightly awkward silence settled in for a few seconds.

“How did you know?” Blurted out Remus suddenly.

“What do you mean?”

“How did you know I annotated that book?”

“You seemed the type.”

The brown-haired man looked at him confusedly. 

“You know, knitted cardigans, tea, and books?” said Sirius, smiling. “There’s something I wanted to show you, I think you would immensely enjoy it.”

And he took out a pair of silver-framed reading glasses. 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed, I might write a sequel for this someday...  
> Read and review!  
> b-bye, daya


End file.
